The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Falling Apart?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were facing for financial irregularities. Reports that his departure was imminent were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy during matches as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Presence
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this season. He was on last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his parent club were attempting to remain there a while longer. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to weaken their team without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to identify the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
